#221 - GUIDE TO VIRTUAL REALITY FOR ARCHITECTS with Alessio Grancini
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina are joined by Alessio Grancini, Prototype Engineer at Magic Leap and former Head of XR Morphosis to discuss how VR can be used in architecture offices, covering terminology, software, workflows, costs, learning curves, using VR in the design process and for client presentations, different headsets, controls, different types of rendering, the social implications of VR, and how he transitioned from architecture to the technology space. Enjoy!
ABOUT ALESSIO
With a hybrid background between design and technology, Alessio Grancini is a prototype engineer at Magic Leap. He is interested in AR and VR meeting human interaction. He taught Unity workshops internationally, exhibited work in art galleries, and published multiple articles about AR/VR.
HIGHLIGHTS
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Introduction: How Alessio became interested in VR, AR, and MR technologies.
(08:06) Defining the terms VR, AR, and MR and why the three are confusing.
From a very basic standpoint, you can think of this world of mixed reality as a spectrum—the spectrum of immersive reality or extended reality that is called XR. This spectrum goes form augmented reality to virtual reality, and in the middle you can find mixed reality. […] Going toward the mixed reality [area], you are going to start to have a defined media that is playing with space, but is also tracking space, so you are scanning the space and understanding where things are. (08:34)
(12:26) How VR technologies were used in Morphosis and how they can be used effectively during client presentations.
Clients, when they are an environment which they really don’t know, they tend to take the lead. It’s really easy to judge without having information about the project. If you think about a set a drawings for a competition, for example, usually the designer guides you through he project in a very specific way. […] For VR it becomes challenging to work in the same methodology because clients just put a headset on and they can look everywhere. You give a lot of freedom and the client gets super excited. […] There are millions of possibilities for things to go wrong. (15:30)
(17:55) Having avatars in VR space.
(20:10) The advantage of using these technologies during the design process.
(20:33) The workflow from creating typical 3D computer model (for example, a Rhinoceros model) to creating a VR experience, the programs that can be used and refreshing and updating a VR model from a computer model.
Unity has a very friendly interface for designers. It is more intuitive than Unreal Engine, because Unreal is based on these blueprint systems that is a language you need to learn of the software itself. It’s not impossible, but it’s more specific. (41:22)
(43:42) Game engine software and live rendering.
The main difference is that when you are rendering, you are basically focusing on one frame at a time, pixel by pixel calculating all of the lighting of the scene. So the render, like a still image [for example], takes a long time to be rendered, because you have a very enormous amount of information that is calculating all of this light. In real time representation you do the calculation a fraction of a second. […] It’s not like I’m just going to set to render and I need to pray to god that this thing is going to look good. (44:45)
(54:04) How to start using VR in architecture office: Different kinds of headsets, the learning curve, softwares, and WebVR.
(01:14:45) Controls for VR sets and hand-tracking technology.
(01:21:17) Client interests in VR and the benefits of VR in architecture offices and in architecture school.
(01:31:01) The future of VR, AR, MR, WebVR and shares his experience with Venue (a VR social event).
(01:49:20) The high expectations many people have with VR technology, technology in pop culture, the speed of VR technology’s advancement, how he transitioned from architecture to prototype engineer, and how much more challenging the hiring process is in the tech-realm.
